depredate
Strip by force
To depredate is to plunder, pillage, or lay waste—typically through raids or systematic destruction.
The word appears most often in historical or formal contexts describing military campaigns, pirate attacks, or predatory animals: Viking raiders depredated coastal villages for centuries.
The noun depredation is more common than the verb: the depredations of war.
Use a resource unsustainably
- overharvestGather beyond replacement rate
- depleteGreatly reduce supply
- exhaustUse up entirely
- drainChannel for wastewater
strip-mine · overfish · deforest · overgraze · degrade · impoverish · despoil · encroach
pillage
Violent theft of goods
despoil · sack · ravage · spoils · booty · fleece · spoliation · foray · raid · strip
overexploit
Use a resource unsustainably
- overharvestGather beyond replacement rate
- depleteGreatly reduce supply
- exhaustUse up entirely
drain · strip-mine · overfish · deforest · overgraze · degrade · impoverish · despoil · encroach · appropriate
hunt
Pursuit of quarry
stalk · ambush · pounce · kill · capture · feeding · parasitism · herbivory · browsing · grazing